


F*** It, Let's Save the Planet

by Milliadoc_Brandybuck



Category: Spider-Man (Comicverse), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Venom (Comics), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Adult Peter Parker, Adult Spider-Man, Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Inspired by Venom (Movie 2018), Making Out, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Office Romance, Office Sex, Post-Venom (Movie 2018), different timeline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:53:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26203738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milliadoc_Brandybuck/pseuds/Milliadoc_Brandybuck
Summary: After the events of Venom (2018), Eddie Brock (with Venom in tow) decides to move back to New York City to escape what happened in San Francisco and start over. He lands a job as a freelance reporter for The City Cornucopia paper and finds himself instantly attracted to his new boss: Ellie Walker, a fearless woman who knows just about everyone.Meanwhile, Ellie's intern Penelope Moore is the next big name in investigating and documenting the antics of the city's 'Enhanced Individuals'. Nobody knows why she's so good at getting the inside scoop on superheroes... it's almost like she understands them herself. A series of events means the paper hires a new photographer in the form of Peter Parker (who is an adult in this timeline, but still modelled on Holland's portrayal).Eddie/Venom doesn't know about Peter/Spider-Man's secret identity and vice versa; Penny hasn't told anyone her biggest secret, and Ellie doesn't know that any of them have the secrets that they keep. Will that remain the case?
Relationships: Eddie Brock/Original Female Character(s), Peter Parker/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. An Origin Story

The City Cornucopia was the jewel of New York reporting. It could rival the Daily Bugle anyday, especially because it dealt with  _ real  _ news and not gossip. That, and it was fronted by Editor-in-Chief and general badass: Ellie Walker. 

Ellie had started her career ten years previously, straight out of college, and rose through the ranks until she had the top spot, and deservedly so. Nobody knew more about what there was to report in the city than Ellie Walker, and nobody messed with her. Not even Tony Stark could get near her if she decided to set her sights on Stark Industries. Thankfully she was more focused on the underbelly of the New York City ‘Enhanced Individuals’.

The secret to her success was the team that she built around her. She scouted the country for the best of the best, young or experienced, and right now the pride of such a team was, oddly enough, her intern: Penelope Moore.

“Penny.” Ellie put a file down on Penny’s desk and she looked up, her focus broken on the article comparing Tony Stark to Elon Musk. Penny removed her glasses and pulled the file towards herself. “I have a lead for you.” 

“Is it as good as the last one?” Penny asked as she opened it excitedly.

“You tell me. You’re my ‘Identified Enhanced’ expert.” Ellie nodded at the file. “It look like your kind of thing?”

“Are you kidding?” Penny flicked excitedly through the pages of gore and devastation with a wide grin. “This is exactly my thing.”

“You’re a weird kid.” Ellie shook her head. “Anyway… head down there and see what you can bring me back.” 

“Right away, boss.” Penny closed the file, saved her article and got to her feet, pulling on her blazer and feeling at home in the bright red. 

“Oh, speaking of…” Ellie said as Penny frowned at her. “You get this right and there’s a job for you here at the Cornucopia. Paid.” 

“What?” Penny frowned, her eyes bright. “You serious?”

“What do you think?” Ellie laughed, “You’re the best reporter I’ve ever had, you deserve far more than working for free given the stuff you’ve been bringing me. You’ve been here, what? Two years?”

“20 months, yeah.” Penny couldn’t stop smiling. 

“Well I should have made it official after what you brought me on War Machine, but I’ll make it up to you now.” She tapped the file in Penny’s arms with her long nails, “Knock this out of the park and the job is yours.” 

“Ellie, I could kiss you.” Penny beamed. 

“Wouldn’t go that far.” Ellie shook her head, smiling. “Go on, that crime scene won’t wait.” 

Penny nodded and hurried away to work. Ellie watched her go and couldn’t help smiling. 

Penelope Moore had come to the paper after college and, after a year working for Pym Labs, deciding to pursue journalism. She was a bright young thing of ebony hair and a kind of electricity that Ellie had seldom seen. She worked hard for no pay and consistently brought in the juiciest content on the city's many Enhanced Individuals in a way that nobody could understand: it was like she  _ understood  _ them. Ellie saw a lot of herself in her young protege. They were only nine years apart in age and she thought of Penny almost like a little sister. 

Ellie was brought from her nostalgic thoughts by a figure wandering into the office. He was handsome, there was no denying that, but in a scruffy ‘couldn’t be bothered’ kind of way. Ellie was instantly intrigued… and aroused. 

She cleared her throat and headed over to him. He looked like a lost puppy as he took in the size of the Cornucopia offices. 

“Can I help you?” Ellie asked, plastering on her best ‘boss’ smile whilst also taking with her an air of ‘don’t mess with me’. She was good at that. 

“I hope so,” The man said, shifting his man-bag further up the shoulder of his trucker jacket. “My name is Eddie Brock… I’m looking for somebody called…”

“Ellie Walker.” Ellie held out her hand. “I remember. I didn’t expect you until later this afternoon.” Eddie shook her hand. He had a firm grip, but there was something about his eyes that seemed unfocused. Ellie retracted her hand again. 

“Was it this afternoon?” Eddie frowned as he dug out his phone to check through the emails. “Shit, sorry.” He flinched and looked at her worriedly. “Shit, sorry for saying shit. Three times.” 

Ellie giggled softly. “It’s alright.” She smiled. “Mr Brock, there is definitely a benefit to being early to an interview but three hours is a bit excessive…”

“Eddie, please.” He scowled. It was kinda cute. “I must have gotten my times mixed up. It’s not an excuse really but I’ve not been sleeping too well since moving to NYC. City noise and all that… it’s a different pace to San Francisco.” 

“That’s a New York accent, though?” Ellie cocked her head to one side. He intrigued her no end. 

“Yeah, born and raised. Moved to the West coast for…” He shrugged. “Well, she’s old news.” 

Ellie smiled at his nervous awkwardness. She shrugged back at him. “I’ve got time if you want to take that interview now.” 

“Are you sure? I don’t want to put you out.” Eddie said worriedly as she walked past him to the kitchen area and began to organise a coffee pot. 

“You’re lucky it’s a slow news day.” Ellie smiled at him, then deflected. “Or I just have enough minions to cover everything.” Her eyes shone and Eddie chuckled at her. “Coffee?”

“Please. Black.” Eddie replied. He looked around the office. “This is a different vibe from my last place.”

“You got fired, huh?” Ellie leaned against the kitchen side and folded her arms as the pot began to brew. 

Eddie looked at her worriedly and flinched. “I, er, got carried away with a story. It got too big, my boss freaked out.”

“I’m intrigued.” Ellie’s eyes shone. “What was so big that you got carried away?”

“It’s a long story.” Eddie replied. 

“All the better.” Ellie grinned. “I like long stories the most.” She narrowed her eyes in a kind of amused double-wink. He chuckled again. 

“Well, er, this science project near where I was living got real big, real… real. People started disappearing, my boss didn’t want the heat, I was getting too close. You know how it is.” Eddie shrugged. 

Ellie watched him carefully, noticing every little twitch and deflection. “How did it end? With the project?”

“It went up in a blaze of glory.” Eddie made a face that reminded Ellie of a child pleading their innocence after doing something wrong. Ellie raised her eyebrows, impressed. 

“So you had to get out of dodge?” She turned to pour coffee and didn’t see Eddie’s biggest twitch yet, followed by him muttering something. She looked at him for an answer after silence.

“Oh,” He said awkwardly, “Yeah. Thought I’d make a new start.” 

“Well,  _ Eddie _ ,” She made a point of saying his name as she handed him his black coffee, “We don’t fire people here for getting too... close.” She stepped up to him and he raised his eyebrows at the subtext in her voice. She waited a moment and then smiled, walking past him. “Follow me, we’ll continue this in my office.” 

~*~

Two days later and Penny finished her story on the mysterious bodies found in Bushwick. It wasn’t anything unusual for the area, unfortunately, except for this time they had been found with no heads and what looked like bite wounds where the limbs had once been. The police were saying cartel, but Penny knew better. She knew Enhanced Individuals when she saw them, more than she cared to admit.

From what Penny had gathered on her reconnaissance - both as a reporter and…  _ otherwise _ \- she had gathered the victims were in the middle of a drug deal when someone - or something - attacked them. It was a story worthy of the front page, that was sure. The difficulty was that she had only been able to take photos on her cell. Their usual photographer had quit unexpectedly a week ago and they had yet to replace him. Penny could only do so much on her phone. She was, after all, working for the paper for free. If it wasn’t for the money she had saved from her year at Pym then she wouldn’t even be able to afford to live in the box that she did. 

It was really bugging Penny that she didn’t have good photos, and so she decided to tell Ellie. 

Ellie was over by the desk of the new guy: Eddie someone: when Penny went to find her. She was showing him how their system worked, perched on the edge of his desk with her supple legs on show. `They were laughing in a way that made Penny feel like she was intruding. 

She cleared her throat so as not to interrupt. 

“Ah, my favourite intern.” Ellie smiled at her. “Do you have that report?”

“It’s all here.” Penny held out the print to Ellie and Ellie took it excitedly. “Although my photos don’t really do it justice. By the time we get a new photographer the scene’ll be gone so I don’t really know what you want me to do?” Penny smiled in welcome at the new guy and he smiled back before they both turned back to Ellie as she scanned the report with her well-practiced scowl. 

“Not to worry.” Ellie replied, handing it back to Penny. “You’ve got two hours to put out an APB for any photographs of the crime scene in high-definition. Whoever has the best gets, I don’t know, $200.” 

Eddie and Penny both raised their eyebrows as Penny nodded. 

“Okay.” She smiled. “I can do that.” She turned to Eddie again and Ellie realised they hadn’t been formally introduced. 

“Penny, this is Eddie Brock, Eddie, Penny Moore, my intern and our resident expert on Enhanceds” Ellie said lazily. “Eddie’s come here from San Francisco and he’ll be our new freelance.”

“Nice to meet you.” Eddie stood up and held out his hand. “Enhanceds, huh?”

“She gets stuff on them no-one else can.” Ellie explained. “I don’t know how she does it.”

Penny smiled deflectively and shook his hand. There was a moment as they frowned at each other as their skin touched: Eddie had felt an electrical shock from her fingers, she had felt something weird from his. They looked at each other in suspicion for a moment and then Penny retracted her hand. 

“It’s just my job.” Penny shrugged. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll put out that broadcast.” She smiled once again and turned away to return to her desk. Eddie frowned at his fingers and twitched as Ellie frowned at him. 

“The intern is off limits.” She said cooly.

“What?” Eddie shook his head to clear it. 

“Whatever just happened there.” Ellie explained. Eddie shook his head more forcefully in denial. 

“I just got a static shock from her, that’s all.” He shrugged. “Must be the carpets. So, Enhanceds, huh?” He repeated. 

Ellie nodded. “There’s a few of them in this city. For whatever reason it’s a hot-bed.” 

“What, like Iron Man and Spider-Man and all them?” Eddie asked as he chewed the end of his pen, thinking. 

“Exactly.” Ellie agreed. “That report she’s working on… she thinks it’s another one, yet unidentified. We could have the inside scoop on it. Seems to be animalistic.” 

“Oh?” Eddie’s heart started pounding as he ignored the voice in his head. “How so?”

“A bunch of drug-dealers found without heads or limbs and a bunch of tooth marks.” Ellie explained. “So it’s either a werewolf, or it’s Enhanced and pissed.”

“Oh.” Eddie said quietly as Venom whispered: ‘Oops’ in his head. He shook it to shut him up. “I hope her report helps them get to the bottom of it.” He sat forward and gestured at the computer, deflecting. “Show me that last part again?”

Ellie sighed and returned to explaining about the system. 

Over at her desk Penny finished posting the appeal on all the usual networks. Now all she could do was wait for that photo. She looked over to where Ellie sat with the new-guy and tried to make sense of what she had felt when they had shook hands. It was almost like he had fluctuated before her eyes, though that was absurd. She put it down to tiredness and pushed it from her mind as a weird flook. 

Her computer bleeped as she received a message. She opened it, hopeful, to a short response to her request from one P. Parker over in Queens. 

_ I HAVE A HQ PHOTO OF WHAT YOU NEED.  _

Penny typed back a hasty reply.  _ PLEASE CAN YOU SEND? _

She waited as they typed back and her heart sank a little as his words flashed up:  _ I ONLY HAVE IT ON POLAROID.  _

Penny sat back and considered her options. Firstly, who the hell took photos on Polaroid anymore? Would that even be high-enough quality to consider. Either way it would beat her grainy phone photo… and they weren’t getting anymore responses. She typed a reply. 

_ CAN YOU BRING TO CITY CORNUCOPIA OFFICE? _

A few moments passed as she bit her lip, hoping. 

Then,  _ SURE, BE THERE SOON. MY NAME IS PETER PARKER IF YOU HAVE TO LIKE, TELL THE DOORMAN.  _

Penny laughed a little. Some of it was in relief, some of it in amusement. 

_ ASK FOR PENNY MOORE. SEE YOU SOON, PETER.  _

She replied. Whoever this Peter was he may be the thing that stood between her continuing as an unpaid intern, or her getting a full-time job. Either way he had saved her ass.

~*~

Twenty minutes later and Penny took the elevator down to the ground floor as the front desk buzzed her. She was oddly nervous. All this for a damn Polaroid?

She smoothed her red dress in the elevator mirror and tried to look as professional as possible. It occurred to her that she didn’t know the slightest thing about this Peter Parker. It felt all kinds of dodgy to be meeting him for a photo of a murder scene. Why did he have it anyway?

The elevator pinged open and she headed down the hall to the entrance. She nodded in thanks at Doris, the lady behind the desk, and Doris gestured over to the seating area. Penny followed her gesture to where a young man, about Penny’s age, in a hooded sweatshirt and jeans was sitting with his foot up on his knee, tapping it to a silent beat. Penny couldn’t help but smile as she knew she did the same when she was nervous. 

“Peter Parker?” Penny held out her hand as she approached him. He turned to her and she temporarily gasped a little at how handsome he was. He sprang to his feet to shake her hand and managed to somehow kick the small table with the magazines despite being nowhere near it. He cursed and stumbled to correct it, his satchel crashing into the water-tank as he did. Penny made sure to hold that in place as he straightened himself out and took a deep breath. 

“Sorry.” He said awkwardly. Penny couldn’t help but giggle. “I’m kinda accident prone.”

“I… hadn’t noticed.” Penny held out her hand again, nervously. “Penny Moore. I’m scared to shake your hand now in case you somehow make the ceiling fall or something...”

“Nah, not doing that again.” Peter laughed and shook her hand determinedly. He retracted it almost immediately as a jolt of electricity surged through his arm. “Whoa.” He looked at his tingling fingers and then at her with a frown, like he could sense it. 

Penny blinked and made to distract him from his accusatory scan of her face. “You got something for me?” She asked. 

“Er, right, yeah.” Peter shook off whatever suspicion he had and delved into his satchel. 

“I’m curious as to why you have it.” Penny asked as she watched him. He was deliberately concealing the contents of his bag from her. “From what I could gather, that crime scene was pretty sealed…”

“Aha,” He said, holding it up and then out to her. “Er, yeah… I was just passing.”

“Just passing?” Penny asked skeptically as she took it, careful not to touch his fingers again. She looked at the photo and frowned instantly. “This is from above…” She concluded, frowning at him. His eyes were wide like a rabbit in headlights. “Were you on the roof?”

“I…” Peter struggled to answer as she frowned steadily at him, “I like to do parkour.” He replied with a dopey smile. 

Penny raised an eyebrow. “On ten story buildings… in Bushwick?”

“Er, yeah.” Peter said again, then shrugged. “You mean you don’t?” 

Penny lowered her guard and smiled at him. “I can’t say I do.” She looked back at the photo. “This is perfect, thank you. Do you want to come up to the office and I’ll get my boss to sign off on that cheque.” 

“Sure, absolutely, lead the way.” Peter said nervously. Penny laughed at him again and turned to lead him back down the hall, then paused and turned back. 

“Try not to break anything?” She begged with a smile. 

Peter nodded and folded his arms, “Yeah, course, I won’t. I mean, I’ll try. I can’t promise, obviously, but…”

“You talk a lot, huh?” Penny asked, giggling and turning back to walking down the hall. 

“I talk when I’m nervous.” Peter explained as they boarded the elevator and Penny scanned her card to go to the office. “Sometimes it’s kinda hard to stop once I get started. Call it a nervous tick or something,” He laughed, “Maybe I have ADHD or something… I’m like, hyper-aware and sometimes talking is the best way to get that out…”

Penny widened her eyes at the sheer speed at which he spoke. 

“Sorry.” He hung his head. 

“It’s cute.” She admitted before she could stop herself. She realised and looked away from him, clearing her throat. She could see him smiling in the corner of her eye. Thankfully the doors pinged open before either of them could say anything else and Penny led the way out and into the office. 

“Whoa…” Peter said as he looked around. 

“Do me a favour and try to keep vaguely quiet whilst I talk to my boss.” Penny smiled at him. He nodded and mimed zipping his mouth. She laughed and turned to where Ellie was still helping Eddie with the system. “Ellie…?”

“Penny.” Ellie excused herself from Eddie and crossed over to where Penny stood with Peter. Ellie looked him up and down before focusing on her intern. “You get it?”

Penny held up the Polaroid and Ellie took it, smiling widely. 

“Perfect.” She nodded in approval. “This will do nicely.” She crossed to her desk and pulled out the official cheque book, filling in the numbers. “Name?”

“Peter.” Peter spoke up, “Peter Parker.”

Ellie frowned for a moment at the book and then at him. “Do I know that name?”

“I,” Peter looked between them awkwardly, “I don’t know why you would.” 

Ellie frowned further as she scanned her memory. Then she snapped her fingers. “Stark internship.” She nodded. “You were at one of his many Galas aeons back.” She returned to filling out the book and Peter breathed out. 

“Yeah, that’ll be it. Good memory, ma’am.” Peter said. 

Ellie pulled out the cheque and held it out to him, but as he reached out to take it she retracted it. “You wouldn’t be looking for a photography job, would you Parker?” 

Penny raised her eyebrow. Why hadn’t she thought of that?

“A photography job?” Peter’s eyes lit up. “Here?”

“No…” Ellie rolled her eyes, “On the moon.” 

“Right, sorry.” Peter nodded. “Sure. Yeah.”

Ellie smiled and held out the cheque for real. “Welcome to the City Cornucopia, Peter Parker.” 

“You don’t want my resume or anything?” Peter asked as he took the cheque. 

“Don’t need it. Stark internship and this photo is enough for me. You’ll answer to Penny.” Ellie nodded to where Penny was trying to process what had just happened. Penny looked back at Ellie in confusion. “She’s my newest official reporter.” She winked. “As promised.”

Penny grinned at her. “Thank you, Ellie. I won’t let you down.” 

“You haven’t so far.” Ellie said. She gestured dismissively. “Go and find Parker a desk and get him to fill out a new employee form, and update your own whilst you’re doing it.” 

“Right away.” Penny replied, gesturing for Peter to follow her as they entered the main office. 

“Am I dreaming?” Peter asked as they walked. “This feels all very… unusual.”

“Welcome to the City Cornucopia.” Penny shrugged. “Nothing ever feels quite right here.” 

Peter paused as he passed the desk where Eddie was frowning at the computer. At the same time, Eddie scowled further and looked up at Peter. It was as if they could sense something about each other… something  _ enhanced _ . 

Ellie looked at all three of them and smiled to herself. This was the beginning of a great team, she was sure of it. 


	2. Venom in the Wound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellie finds out a secret about her newest recruit: Eddie Brock.

Ellie was beginning to wonder about her new employee: the older one, not the kid with the camera. The kid was weird enough, but only as he seemed unable to tell when to shut up. Eddie was something different, he was odd in a different way. Yet there was something about him that Ellie found really sexy. Maybe it was his bedraggled bed-hair, his unshaven exhaustion or that he seemed only able to speak his mind and nothing else. She liked men like that. 

Ellie had never really been one for relationships. She was more of a ‘be in the moment’ kind of chick. Some people may call that being a slut, Ellie called it being in charge of her own attraction. Either way she was beginning to feel things for Eddie Brock that could no longer be explained away. 

Yet he was equal parts sexy as he was odd, there was no denying it. She had caught him talking to himself more than once. Sure, we all talk to ourselves, Ellie did it too when she forgot her keys or put too much cream in her coffee, but this was something else. He almost seemed to talk with someone other than himself - a different alias, even. It intrigued and concerned her, and she had to get the bottom of it.

Thankfully something came up that meant she would have to keep Eddie later than the others. A sudden flare up of what seemed to be a Hulk incident in the North of the state had sent Penny and Peter off on their own little side mission. They were working really well as a team, the young guns of reporting, and so Ellie and Eddie would have the office to themselves past five o’clock when everybody else left. It would be the perfect time to get to know Brock. Thankfully he seemed as eager to stay behind as she was for him to stay. She didn't even have to come up with an excuse, simply ask him. 

“It’s not like I have anywhere else to be.” Eddie had shrugged in response. 

As the evening came to a close and the other employees clocked out Ellie placed a coffee down on Eddie’s desk. He was in the middle of typing up an article and smiled in thanks at her. 

“You read my mind.” He nodded gratefully and sipped from the cup. Ellie perched on the edge of his desk to read his article over his shoulder. “Whatcha think?” He asked, his eyes meeting hers as he sought her approval. 

“I think you were the best spontaneous decision I’ve made in a while.” Ellie replied. “And that’s as close to compliment as you’ll get from me anytime soon.”

“You like being the hardass boss, huh?” Eddie’s eyes shone as he sat back to drink his coffee. 

Ellie half-shrugged. “It has its perks. Striking fear into the hearts of my enemies and all that.”

“Careful,” Eddie warned jovially, “This day and age and people will think you’re a supervillain or something. Especially in this state.” He laughed huskily. 

“Nah, I’m just a bitch.” Ellie winked at him. “No superpowers here.” 

Eddie swallowed guiltily and twitched in a way that made Ellie frown at him. 

“What’s your story, anyway?” Ellie asked. 

“You know my story.” Eddie replied.

“I know you came here from San Francisco…”Ellie folded her arms, getting ready to grill him. “Funnily enough that’s where Penny came here from.”

“Really?” Eddie put his head on one side. “She sounds so New York?”

“Oh yeah, she was born here. But she came to the office from an internship at Pym.” Ellie was watching him carefully. Pym was serious superhero stuff. 

“Pym?” Eddie raised his eyebrows and whistled, impressed. “Prestigious.” 

“Which lab did you take down again?” Ellie asked casually. 

“Life Foundation.” Eddie nodded with a scowl. “Pym wannabes. At least she didn’t come here from Stark.” Eddie shifted uncomfortably under her steady gaze.

“Or Von Doom.” Ellie mused, still watching him carefully. He twitched again and her eyes narrowed. “You remember when you were a kid?” She opted for the childhood route to really work him out. “Did you even think talking about Enhanced Individuals would be an everyday thing?”

“Nah.” Eddie shook his head. “I mean, there was the legend of Captain America and everything but that was about it. It’s all since Stark, really. You ever met him?”

“A couple of times.” Ellie nodded. “He’s a bit far up his own ass.” 

Eddie twitched again as the voice in his reminded him who was up his. “Doesn’t do it for you? I thought all the ladies loved Stark?” Eddie sipped slowly as Ellie surveyed him and his twitching carefully. 

“I prefer my men much more real.” Ellie replied. 

Eddie met her eye and for a split second something passed between them, a kind of heat that he hadn’t felt in a long time. Ellie didn’t think she’d ever felt a heat that strong. She found herself looking away to break the intensity of it and scowled at her own weakness. 

“Nah,” She said to break the moment, “Enhanced’s don’t do it for me.” She looked back at him. “Too perfect. I prefer men who have lived, who know what it means to struggle.” 

Eddie looked steadily back at her, a small smirk on his lips. “That right?”

“I mean… Dr Banner… that’s about my level of Enhanced. Rough around the edges with that dark secret burning inside him.”

Eddie twitched so suddenly that Ellie frowned at him. He swallowed hard and then said in a small voice, “I, er, know a few Enhanced’s who could take the Hulk anyday.” 

“That I’d like to see.” Ellie smiled at him. There was definitely flirtation in her eyes and he returned it for a moment before breaking the heat again. She was a very attractive woman and it was hard to focus when she looked at him like that. “So what’s your situation?” She looked away from him and to her foot as it tapped the arm of his chair, her long legs very distracting. 

“Situation?” He swallowed nervously and looked away from her legs, forcing himself to meet her eye. He had the nervous sweatiness that got her hot for no reason. 

“Handsome guy like you…” Ellie shrugged. “Girlfriend? Boyfriend? Piece on the side? All of the above?”

Eddie grinned coyly. “Nahh…” He deflected. “I mean, I had a girlfriend back in Cisco, but she’s with this Doctor now and I’m…” He shrugged and twitched again, “Alone.” He said the word as if it hurt, as if something was stopping him saying it. Ellie frowned at him, then smiled. 

“Would you want to go for dinner with me sometime?” She asked. She had never been one to beat around the bush. If she wanted something she would take it. She was, however, oddly nervous as she looked at him. 

He smiled dopily and nodded, “That’d be nice…” His smile faded and he looked away. “Only…” Ellie’s heart sank as she waited for the excuse. She had this a lot. Men were intimidated by her. 

“I know, I’m your boss.” She rolled her eyes. 

“No…” Eddie looked at her quickly. “Believe me, I’d happily do you right here on this desk.” He scowled as though he hadn’t meant to say that out loud. Ellie giggled softly. “But I come with…” Eddie hesitated, “Baggage.” He landed on. 

Ellie looked back at him as she tried to work him out. Normally she was really good at reading people but Eddie Brock… there was something she couldn’t place. Something else…

“I’m really sorry.” Eddie said. “Genuinely, so… very… sorry.” His eyes burned into hers as she looked back at him, her arms still folded. He didn’t seem to be deflecting for the usual ways men did. It made her want him more. 

“I get it…” She said in a husky voice. “You have a past, I have a past. The last thing we should do is get involved.” She met his eye. “That would be… bad.” There was a flirtiness to her expression that made Eddie hot under the collar. 

There was a beat as their eyes met, her heart beating fast and his twitch getting worse. Then, with a strength she had not expected from him, he pushed back his chair and took her in his arms where she sat on the desk, voicing ‘Fuck it’ in a voice she had never heard as he kissed her deeply. 

It was hot, it was passionate, it was desperate…

And it was over before it began as he pulled away again, ashamed, running his hands over his face and through his hair and muttering to himself. 

Ellie crossed her legs with an air of annoyance, wishing he was still between them, and folded her arms again. Her blouse had somehow unbuttoned itself at the top and she was left wanting. 

“So… are you crazy?” She asked carefully as she watched him talk to himself.

“No!” He said a little loud, then held his hands up in apology as she recoiled. “Sorry. No. I’m not…” He looked her up and down, “Believe me I want to be with you in that way… I just…” He growled.

“Baggage?” Ellie asked. He nodded. 

“Something like that.” He was looking at her with desire in his eyes. He wanted her so badly it hurt. 

“Well…” She slid slowly off the desk and flirtily straightened his collar for him, her own still open as she looked up into his eyes. “I’ve been told I’m a good listener.”

“It’s not about that.” Eddie shook his head. “It’s not emotional baggage, it’s…” He struggled to find the word. “Physical.”

Ellie recoiled. “You’re not like… disfigured down there or anything, are you?” She raised an eyebrow. 

“No…” Eddie shook his head quickly. “No, nothing like that.” He moved to put his hands on her arms but made fists instead as though touching her would mean he couldn’t control himself. “You’re my boss.” His voice was a gravelly whisper. 

“Eddie, you either want me or you don’t.” Ellie shrugged. “It’s okay to say you don’t.” She made to remove her hands from his collar but he grabbed her arms with an uncharacteristic force that made her stomach explode in butterflies. 

“That would be lying.” He replied, kissing her again with the same amount of passion as before. He spun them around and pressed her against the wall as he kissed her. It was heated, almost animalistic… she could feel herself succumbing to him easily. 

“Wait,” She said, “Stop…” She put her hands on his chest to push him back. 

“I knew it.” He shook his head. “This is wrong, you’re my boss. We shouldn’t be doing this.” He turned his head to repeat the statement more to himself. Ellie put a hand on his face and made him look at her. 

“We shouldn’t be doing this here.” She smiled flirtily at him and kissed him again. “I live round the corner. What do you say we work from home tonight?”

Eddie smiled hungrily at her, his eyes sparkling. “Whatever you say, boss.” 

She kissed him again and led him by the collar towards the elevators, barely giving him time to grab his jacket from the back of the chair in the process. 

~*~

Despite his quirks and denials, Eddie had proved to be more than adequate in the sack… more than once. Ellie had been exhausted by the time they eventually fell asleep in each other’s arms, fulfilled and hunger satisfied. Ellie wasn’t a stranger to flings and one night stands. Besides getting the best stories, her next best expertise was getting men into bed, and generally keeping them there. 

She was surprised, then, when she woke up to empty sheets. She blinked blearily at the pillow beside her and sat up. His clothes were still abandoned over the floor. She relaxed a little as she saw steam coming from under the bathroom door. The shower noise hit her ears and she felt the feelings at potentially being abandoned eb away. In spite of her reputation Ellie actually quite liked Eddie and would have been beyond hurt if he had just skipped on her. She leaned back against the pillows and remembered how he had made her stomach erupt in butterflies. He had been very good… and she was looking forward to the post-shower sex that may come now it was the early hours. She was so relieved that it took her a moment to realise she could hear his voice mixed in with the water from the shower. She frowned as she tried to listen. He wasn’t singing, he was definitely talking. She climbed out of bed and swung a sheet around herself as she tiptoed across the boards in her bare feet. 

As a journalist it was her job to know people, and it was just occurring to her that she barely knew the man she had spent the night with. She pressed her ear against the door. He was definitely talking to himself. 

The door was ajar and she pushed it open to find him standing at the mirror talking to his reflection. Well, it was less talking and more arguing. She allowed herself a second to take in his half-naked form before she cleared her throat. He jumped so hard he nearly smashed the mirror. 

“Ellie.” He glanced at the reflection and then back at her as though he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t. 

“Do you two want to be alone?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. She had meant it as a joke but the fear in his face stopped any possibility of that. 

“Wait, can you see him?” Eddie asked in a rasp as he gestured to the mirror. 

Ellie felt her stomach churn as she frowned. “See who?” She asked cautiously, mentally trying to work out the number of steps between the bathroom door and where she kept her gun in her cabinet. “I was being sarcastic.”

Eddie stared at her with wide eyes. Something about his expression told her he hadn’t been joking. 

“Eddie…” She said quietly. “See who?” She repeated, looking at the mirror. 

There was a long pause and then Eddie whispered: “Venom.” 

_ “It’s about time.”  _ Venom replied in his head. Eddie twitched and tried to ignore him. 

Ellie took a step backwards. “Who’s Venom?”

“Venom is…” Eddie started, but he started twitching violently and looked at his hands, “No, don’t you dare… don’t do it…” He started arguing, but it was too late. Before he could stop Venom, the symbiote had taken over his body and formed around him. 

Ellie had never seen anything so horrifying. She let out a scream worthy of Hitchcock and stumbled backwards, falling onto the floor and trying to back away as Venom walked towards her. It was horrifying. Her back hit the wall and she shielded her face as it advanced. Then, as quickly as Venom had formed, it began to ebb away to be replaced with Eddie again. 

“Not cool, man. We talked about this.” Eddie said to the thing inside him. 

_ “I just wanted to say hello.”  _

“Yeah, well now she’s having a heart attack.” Eddie said exasperatedly. He held out his hand to help Ellie up but she slapped it away, her heart in her mouth as she tried to recover. 

“What the fuck was that!?” She screamed at him. 

“Venom.” Eddie said with a small shrug. “He’s my… parasite.” 

“ _ We talked about that word.”  _ Venom replied. 

“Yeah, man, I know, but how else am I gonna explain it?” Eddie said to Venom. Ellie watched him with terror still etched onto her face. 

“A parasite?” She breathed. “It looked like something from hell.” 

“Outer space, actually.” Eddie said. “Please let me help you up.”

Ellie shook her head and got to her feet herself, her knees shaking as she looked at him warily. 

“You’re…. You’re Enhanced?” She managed in a tight voice.

“Kinda.” Eddie shrugged. “Something like that.” 

“Like the Hulk.” 

_ “I would pummel the Hulk into oblivion.”  _

“No.” Eddie translated. “Not exactly.” 

“And you’re… you’re so normal with this?” Ellie shook her head. 

“I kinda don’t have a choice.” Eddie shrugged. “He needs me, I need him. We have an agreement.” 

Ellie stared at him as she tried to process what he was saying with what she had seen. Her eyes widened as she realised something. 

“So when we were having sex he just… watched?” She said in a shocked voice. 

_ “Yhup.”  _

“Could you be enjoying this any more?” Eddie asked Venom and then looked at Ellie with an apologetic expression. “Sorta.” He sighed. “I’m sorry Ellie, I know it’s a lot to process.”

“Ya.” Ellie breathed incredulously. She held herself and shook her head. “What the hell…”

“I’m still me.” Eddie tried to explain, then faltered, “Not that you knew me all that well to start with. Maybe that’s just as well, maybe this way you’re getting to know the real me from the start.”

“You’re only half you, though.” 

“Venom really isn’t that bad.” Eddie said. “He’s…”

“It weirds me out that he’s inside you…” Ellie stared at him. “Normally Enhanced’s are like… their alias is one part of them and their everyday persona is the other… you’re just all…” She gestured to all of him because she couldn’t find the words. 

“I understand if I’m fired and you want me to leave.” Eddie said. “Really, I do.” 

She looked at his earnest expression for a long time, then breathed out shakily. “I need a drink.” She crossed to the bar, still wearing only a sheet, and poured herself a triple shot, knocking it back like water. She took a deep breath and then turned back to where he was still standing in just a towel.

“Okay.” She said. “The beginning. I need the whole story if I’m going to accept it.” 

“Do you want me to tell it, or him?” Eddie asked cautiously. 

“Both.” Ellie sat on the couch and waited for him/them to join her. “Both works.” 

~*~

Forty minutes later and Eddie and Venom had filled in every part of their story. Venom had made another appearance, this time cautiously so as not to terrify her. He had even offered to shake her hand and she had accepted his handshake with shaking fingers. She now sat forward with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands as she processed it all. 

“So?” Eddie asked at the end of it. “Do you think this is something about me you can accept?” He put a hand softly on her shoulder.. 

“Normally when people say that it’s because they’re half-gay or spent six months in jail…” Ellie said quietly. There was a pause as Eddie waited, then she snaked her fingers into his and turned to face him. “But I kinda like you, Eddie. And I guess I can learn to live with the other guy.” She swallowed hard. 

“ _ We knew you’d come round.”  _

“We’re happy to hear it.” Eddie translated, then caught himself. “ I’m happy to hear it.” He ran the back of his fingers down her cheek. “I’m sorry you found out this way.”

“It could have been worse.” Ellie shrugged. There was a pause and then she kissed him softly and leaned against his chest. He slid his arm around her and for a moment they sat there companionably, processing it all. The sun was starting to rise outside the window and New York City was waking up. 

“You know…” Eddie said with a light kiss to the top of her head. “Really, you should tell me your deepest darkest secret. You know, to balance the scales.”

“Keep dreaming.” Ellie replied. 

“Any secret?” Eddie pushed with a grin. “What’s Ellie short for? Elizabeth?”

“It’s not short for anything.” Ellie giggled. 

“I reckon it’s short for Elizabeth. I’m going with that.” Eddie put his head back on the couch and closed his eyes. It felt good to share this part of him himself with someone he could hopefully learn to trust. Venom approved, and that was a big thing. 

Ellie felt his chest rise and fall as she watched the birds outside the window. She wondered how she had ever got herself in this situation, or really why. Of all the people to get mixed up with Enhanced’s she had never thought she would be one. 

Luckily it was just the one. Right? 


	3. Moth to a Flame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penelope gets closer to Peter Parker, and finds herself discovered by her new colleague.

Peter Parker was proving to be an amusing choice of partner in this, Penelope’s first job as a paid member of staff. There was a lot riding on it, she couldn’t let Ellie down. 

They had been sent upstate to investigate what appeared to be a Hulk lapse in an abandoned Stark building. No casualties, just a bunch of devastation. Penelope was excited about the prospect of reporting on one of the original Avengers… yet Peter had been oddly quiet the whole drive up, continuously glancing over his shoulder to his duffle bag in the backseat until Penelope felt she should say something. 

“Do you have a nervous twitch or is there something in your bag that you want?” She asked eventually with a side-glance to him, “I can pull over.”

“What?” Peter blinked at her then shook his head, “No, no.” 

“Then quit it, you’re super distracting.” Penelope laughed. They were about half an hour from the destination according to the sat-nav and they had yet to really talk. It wasn’t great considering they were supposed to be partners. “So what’s your story, Parker?”

“My… story?” Peter asked with a crack in his voice. 

“Yeah. Where did you come from, grow up, go to school? We’re colleagues but all I know is you like to take photos on a Polaroid of all things and you did a Stark internship. I didn’t even know Stark offered them.” 

“Oh, it’s not like a regular thing.” Peter said awkwardly. “I was kind of a special case.”

“Well then,” Penelope grinned, “Tell me about that. It’s kind of a big deal. How did you even get to do that if they’re not regular or anything.”

“He kind of just found me.” Peter shrugged and picked at the rubber of his sneaker sole up on his knee. 

“Found you?!” Penelope said incredulously. “That’s insane. How?”

“I’m good with tech.” Peter shrugged again. “I’m not really supposed to talk about it.” He added, “Sorry.”

Penelope raised an eyebrow. “What, like Fight Club?”

“Exactly like Fight Club.” Peter sat up straight. “Love that movie.”

“Sounds just like Stark.” Penelope laughed, catching his eye. “Me too.”

There was a moment between them and then Penelope cleared her throat and looked back at the road. 

“Pym Labs sounds cool.” Peter said. “Did you…” He cleared his throat. “Did you meet Antman?”

“No.” Penelope shook her head. “But I worked in the lab where he was created. I was part of the team they had trying to recreate that suit.” She scowled. If only people knew... “Darren Cross… not a nice guy really.”

“How did you go from working with synthetic supersuits to journalism?” Peter frowned. 

Penelope half-shrugged, deflecting. “I got fired.” She said, then glanced worriedly at him. “Like I said… Darren Cross… not a nice guy.” She cleared her throat and looked back out of the window. “Had to move across the country to get away from him in the end.”

“Didn’t he turn out to be a supervillain?” Peter asked. 

“Something like that.” Penelope cleared her throat. She knew how lucky she had got off with just being fired and not… She shook her head, changing the subject. “So have you always lived in Queens?”

“Pretty much.” Peter nodded. “My parents died when I was four, so I was raised by my Aunt and Uncle, then just my Aunt May when my Uncle died.”

“Oh, Peter.” Penelope looked at him quickly in sympathy. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, it was a long time ago.” Peter said in a monotone. “I’ve learned to move on.” He smiled to show he was okay. 

Penelope focused on the road and tried to think of what to say next. The truth was she knew exactly what he was feeling. 

“What about you?” Peter asked. “Where did you grow up?”

“Brooklyn, actually.” Penelope smiled. “Williamsburg.” 

“I have a friend from Brooklyn.” Peter said before he could stop himself. 

“Oh? Which part?” Penelope asked.

“I don’t remember.” Peter scowled. “Sorry.”

“I didn’t always live in Brooklyn.” Penelope said more to herself. “I was born in the outskirts of Manhattan. My dad had a job at the Natural History Museum as their resident entomologist…” She caught Peter’s confused expression in the mirror and grinned. “Moths and butterflies.” She explained, looking back out of the front windscreen with an unreadable expression. She shook it off. “But he died when I was young and so I was taken into an orphanage in Williamsburg.” She swallowed hard, not realising reminiscing about her dad would hit her so hard.

Peter frowned at her. “You don’t have parents either?” 

Penelope shook her head. “Mom died when I was a baby. Mugging.” She cleared her throat as tears threatened to envelop her. 

Peter’s frown deepened in sympathy. “That’s how my Uncle died.”

Penelope met his eye and once again felt that connection. She smiled sadly at him and he returned the expression before they both cleared their throats and looked back out at the road. 

There was a long pause. 

“So… Polaroids, huh?” She said, changing the subject. “What’s that about?”

~*~

There didn’t appear to be much to report on when they arrived at the devastation. The caretaker described something big, green and angry and Peter took digital photos of the wreckage, but with little else to go on they checked into their separate rooms overnight and then drove back to the city with Penelope dreading telling Ellie.

“Any chance your pal Stark could give us a statement?” She asked halfway through the drive. She had been thinking about it the whole way. 

“I mean, I can ask him?” Peter asked as he pulled out his cell. “He’s not likely to answer me though. He’s taken to retirement a lot more these days.”

“Nah, it’s alright.” Penelope sighed. “I’ll just do yet another report on Cinnabar.” 

“That’s that red and black moth girl, right? Usually hangs around…” He hesitated, “WIlliamsburg actually.” Peter asked as he pocketed his cell again. He cleared his throat, realising he knew too much. “So I’ve heard.”

Penelope shot a glance at him. It was less suspicious, more nervous, and he narrowed his eyes at her. 

“She’s easy to report on.” Penelope cleared her throat. “One of the only active Enhanced women in New York City. And I’m all about that girl power.” She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. 

“There’s always the Spider-Man.” Peter shrugged with his eyes fixed out of the window. Penelope frowned at him. 

“Yeah?” She thought about it. “He’s been quite quiet of late.” 

“Maybe he has other things on his mind.” Peter said before he could stop himself, then glanced at her to see how much she was reading into it. She seemed to be lost in thought. 

“I’ll ask Ellie.” She said, motioning to Peter to keep quiet and clicking the car phone to call the boss. It took Ellie a moment to pick up and when she did it was a little breathless.

“Penelope, Parker, the dream team. Tell me you’ve got something good.” Ellie said. 

“Unfortunately not.” Penelope said. “It was the Hulk but we didn’t have much by way of an interesting story. Just the usual.”

“Damnit.” Ellie said after a pause. “I was looking forward to that front page.”

“I’m sorry, Ellie.“ Penelope said. “Is there anything else we can do? Any more leads.”

“Nothing big.” There was the shuffling of files and a heavy, annoyed sigh from Ellie. “You had one job… You’re lucky I don’t fire your asses.” 

“If there’s no story then…” Peter started but Penelope held up her hand to silence him. She was used to dealing with Ellie, he was still new to it. 

“Do you know what would make me forgive you both?” Ellie said eventually. 

“What?” Penelope asked nervously, breathing a sigh of relief that they weren’t fired. “Anything, we’ll do it.” 

“FInd out the real identities of either Cinnabar or Spider-Man.” Ellie said, and rang off. Peter and Penelope both sat in silence as the echoes of the call rang around the car. 

“Is she serious?” Peter asked worriedly.

“Deadly.” Penelope sighed. 

“But… they’ve both gone years without being discovered.” Peter said nervously, he wasn’t ready to come out just yet.“What makes Ellie think we can do it?”

“We’re not going to.” Penelope said in a careful voice. 

“What?” Peter frowned at her. “I thought you liked this job?”

“I do. But she’s asked me this before.” Penelope gripped the steering wheel as she thought about how to word it. She didn’t want to come out just yet. “I fed her a false name when…” She faltered and glanced at him, “When I couldn’t find out the identities.” 

“You’ve tried?” Peter asked in a squeak. He swallowed hard to clear the anxiety in his voice. 

“Yeah… something like that.” Penelope glanced at him. “I know for a fact Cinnabar doesn’t want to be discovered. I imagine Spider-Man doesn’t either.” She looked at Peter in a way that made him wonder if she knew. How could she know? Was he simply misreading? “I’ll feed a rumour, that’s all.” Penelope nodded more to herself than Peter. “Like last time.” 

Peter breathed a sigh of relief as he looked back out of the window. He hadn’t needed to come clean. Not for the first time he felt like she understood him in inexplicable ways. Maybe it was his spidey-senses, his Peter tingle. Maybe… he shook his head. She couldn’t have first-hand experience, could she?

~*~

It was way past midnight and the streets of Williamsburg were quiet enough. It was pretty dark in this particular area save for one random floating orb of electricity up at the top of a building.

Cinnabar perched on the roof, her arms folded behind her back in the most comfortable position for the red and black wings coming from her suit, and the orb that she had created for light floating beside her. She was more grateful than ever for secret identities after the events of the last few days. She adjusted her mask over her eyes and stretched the stolen wings to marvel at how lucky she had been. She wasn’t ready for everyone to know just yet. She looked around her as she folded them back into her suit. There was no-one else around and it all seemed pretty calm. She could risk a few moments of reality. She removed the mask and sat on the edge of the building, her legs dangling over the side. She manipulated the orb to float closer to her line of vision as she looked down at the mask. 

It had been five years now that she had been keeping this identity secret. Five years since that freak Electromagnetic Radiation explosion during her induction to Pym Labs. Darren Cross had been so grateful that she hadn’t sued that he had kept her in a full time position in one of the most prestigious parts of the lab at only eighteen years old. She had been grateful to him for such an honour, especially because it had allowed her to design and build her own suit using their materials under the guise of recreating the Antman suit. She had been lucky to escape with her life when he had found out… thank god for the electrokinetic powers that the explosion had given her. She had made off with the suit, her powers and her life and made for the East coast and her new life. 

There was a sound behind her, small but enough for her to pick up with her heightened senses, and she shot the floating orb in the direction of the noise, hoping it would connect with the intruder and buy her enough time to put her mask back in place. It connected to the rest of her suit as it had been designed to do and she spun around, her hands outstretched and ready to attack, electricity sparkling around her fingertips. Her orb had connected with something large and black at the other side of the rooftop. She watched as it withstood the electricity surge and absorbed it. It was taller than a man and the electricity that crackled through it reflected in its white eyes and enormous, sharpened teeth. 

Cinnabar took to the air on her wings, manipulating the magnetism in the air as she had taught herself to do, but something black and tentacle-like caught her ankle and pulled her down before she could get away. It seemed to be coming from the tar-like body of the black shape. Her heart pounding, she engaged her wings as blades and cut it off of her, running across the rooftop but it grabbed her again, this time from the back, and pulled her backwards. They engaged in a fist fight, punches landing on Cinnabar’s body but avoiding the black shape as though it could manipulate out of the way. 

“I just want to talk.” The figure said in a voice straight from nightmares. 

“I don’t want to talk.” Cinnabar replied, sending a jolt of electricity into its face from her fingertips so that it retracted its tendrils and recoiled. She took the opportunity to take to the air and fly away. One of her wings was damaged but they were purely to control her ability anyway, so she adjusted and kept going…

Which was when the metal dish was uprooted by a black tentacle and smacked into her face, bringing her down and causing her to roll several times before stopping. Her mask flew from her nose and she felt her lip tear as she slowed to a stop, panting. She felt the vibrations of the figure moving towards her and felt herself lifted off of her feet. 

“I said I just want to…” It said, but it faltered as it’s white eyes met her bloodied face. “Penelope?” 

Penelope gripped its hand around her throat and sent 10,000 volts down it’s arm. It recoiled as though burned and dropped her. She was dazed and confused and so she wasn’t sure if it was talking to her when it spoke.

“This is all you.” It said as Penelope watched the black being ebb away, revealing a human form beneath. 

Her eyes widened as she looked at the man beneath the creature. 

“Eddie Brock?” She asked, pulling herself to a sitting position and wiping her mouth of the blood. 

“You’re Cinnabar?” He asked in surprise as he stood before her in his form. 

“You’re… whatever the fuck that was.” Penelope blinked back at him. 

“Venom.” Eddie said. “He’s… the Hyde to my Jekyll.” He held out a hand to help her up but then retracted it nervously. “You shoot electricity?” He looked at his fingers. “The hell?”

Penelope looked back at him in concern. For a long time they stood in a Mexican stand-off of being discovered and then Penelope hauled herself to her feet. 

“Am I going first, or are you?” She asked, perching on the wall and stretching out her jaw as she watched Eddie sit down beside her. 

“Not it.” Eddie replied. 

Penelope rolled her eyes at him and stretched out her wing to check it wasn’t broken. “I guess it’s me.” She said. 

She took a deep breath and filled him in on the Electromagnetic Radiation explosion, the time at Pym Labs building her suit, the fact she had stolen it and Darren Cross would still be hunting her if Antman hadn’t taken him down. She demonstrated the extent of her powers, the jets of electricity, the orbs of light she could create with her finger tips, the fact she could manipulate the magnetism in the air to fly, explained about the seeing UV rays when wearing her mask and the fact she could hear vibrations and therefore could usually tell when she was around an Enhanced Individual, making her really good at her job. Eddie, in return, filled her in on the Symbiote, Life Foundation and introduced her to Venom when he wasn’t trying to beat her up. Eddie explained that Venom was now scared to touch Penelope for so much as a handshake thanks to the jolt of electricity she had introduced to him. She apologised and they laughed companionably. For Penelope it felt good to finally share her secret with someone. 

She frowned. 

“Wait,” She asked as she looked out over the rooftop, “Why were you… or Venom… even here?”

_ “Definitely not to get electrocuted.”  _ Venom told Eddie sulkily.

Eddie shifted guiltily. “Well…” He cleared his throat. “When you and Peter fed Ellie what she called ‘yet another false account’ for the real identity of Cinnabar… she felt someone else should take the job. Now I see why you kept giving her fake names.” 

“I just…” Penelope shook her head. “It’s easier to live a double-life.” 

“In case Peter finds out and thinks you’re insane?” Eddie asked with a sparkle in his eyes. 

Penelope looked at him quickly. “How do you know that?”

_ “Is she kidding? She does know she’s transparent around Parker, right?”  _

“Venom is really good at picking things up.” Eddie translated. “He… we… have seen the way you act around Parker.” 

Penelope smiled guiltily. “Yeah. Maybe I do want to hide it from him just a bit longer.” 

_ “I wouldn’t be so sure he’s not hiding something too.”  _ Venom said unhelpfully in Eddie’s ear. 

Eddie was saved translating by Penelope voicing her worries. “Is Ellie mad?” Penelope asked worriedly. “Am I fired?”

“Not when I tell her that the last name you gave her was true.” Eddie shrugged. 

_ “What a sweetheart.”  _ Venom said sarcastically. Eddie twitched to shut him up.

“You’d do that for me?” Penelope frowned at him. 

“Look, kid.” Eddie said. “I know what it’s like to have a secret you want to keep hidden.” 

_ “What’s that like, Eddie?” _

He smiled at her, ignoring Venom. “Your identity is safe with me.”

“Really?” Penelope blinked at him, relieved. 

“Yeah, of course.” Eddie smiled and held out his hand. “We ‘Enhanced Individuals’ have to stick together.” 

Penelope grinned at him and shook his hand. Realisation dawned over his face as he realised she had felt Venom the last time they had shaken hands. She was pretty powerful for such a shy young thing. He retracted his hand.

“So,” He cleared his throat. “If I’m keeping your identity secret, can you do me a favour?”

“Besides not telling everyone you’re secretly a big black alien thing?” Penelope asked with a smile. “What?”

“Next time there’s a…” He cleared his throat, “A pile of headless bodies… just,” He cleared his throat again awkwardly, “Slide it into the discard pile?” He avoided her eye contact. 

“Wait…” She realised. “Was that…” She gestured at his body to indicate Venom. 

“ _ Yhup. And it was delicious.” _

“Yeah… he has this thing about needing human flesh.” Eddie made a disgusted face. “So we tend to just go after bad guys.” 

Penelope’s eyes were wide as she looked back at him. She blinked and looked away, considering. 

“Is he going to ever eat good guys?”

_ “Well..” _

“No.” Eddie interrupted quickly. “We had a long talk about it.” 

_ “Spoil sport.” _

“Then I guess I can do that.” Penelope smiled at him. She got to her feet and picked up her mask from where it had been broken from her face. “I should fix this.” She said, replacing it on her face and peering through the cracked lense. 

“Sorry about that.” Eddie got to his feet. 

“How are you going to get down?” Penelope spread her moth wings with a frown. 

“We’ve got that covered.” Eddie shrugged and Venom began to wrap around him. 

Penelope watched cautiously but didn’t argue as she took to the air. 

“See you in the office.” She said. 

“Yeah, you too…” Eddie said as Venom closed over his face. 

With one last glance at her new ally, Cinnabar took to the skies and flew in the direction of her apartment trying desperately to digest exactly what had just happened. Her takeaway and the thing she was struggling with the most wasn’t the fact her identity had been discovered, or that Eddie was really an alien symbiote called Venom… but the fact that her feelings for Peter were apparently obvious. 

Well, shit. 


	4. Caught in a Web

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie asks Ellie on a proper date, and Peter plucks up the courage to ask Penelope out. The date goes wrong when Breaking News calls Cinnabar and Spider-Man into action, and Penelope drops in to Enhanced Anonymous for support.

“I’d like to cook you dinner.” 

Eddie had been watching Ellie work for the past hour whilst Venom whispered sweet nothings in his ear in an attempt to get him to ask her out: properly. 

_ “There’s nothing to be scared of. You’ve already seen her naked.”  _ was his main point of persuasion, which then switched to “ _ If you don’t do it I will.”  _ And that had given Eddie the kick that he needed. Now he stood before her at her desk feeling like he’s just asked for the impossible. 

She looked up at him through her reading glasses looking fifty shades of badass. He felt his ass tighten at the look in her eyes.

“Why did you suggest this…” Eddie muttered to Venom as Ellie slowly removed her glasses. 

_ “Just wait for it…”  _ Venom replied in Eddie’s head. 

“Dinner?” Ellie asked skeptically. 

“Yeah.” Eddie forced a nervous smile. “I thought it might be a good way to get to know you.” 

“I think I got to know you pretty well last time.” Ellie said through pursed lips.

Things had been a little weird since Eddie had returned from his reconnaissance mission, the one in which he had discovered Penelope’s secret alias. He had kept it between himself and Venom, but as Venom pointed out Ellie had picked up on the glances between her protage and Eddie, and she was starting to get suspicious. Especially when he had backed up Penelope’s bullshit. They were in on something and Ellie was going to get to the bottom of it.

“Yeah, well.” Eddie shrugged and hoped the innocent dopiness of his expression would sway her. It seemed to work as she removed her glasses. 

“Can you cook?” Ellie asked. The truth was she wanted to get to know him, but after the last San Franciscan Enhanced she had let herself get close to… she was wary. 

“I haven’t killed anyone.” Eddie tucked his hands in his pockets, then caught himself. “Through my cooking.” He added as a disclaimer. 

His nervous energy made Ellie smirk uncontrollably. She did like him. A lot. 

“Alright.” She said. “I suppose you owe me. When were you thinking?”

_ “Tonight.”  _ Venom suggested.

“Tonight?” Eddie asked. 

Ellie considered, then nodded.

“Awesome.” Eddie grinned and turned to leave, but Venom turned him right back around again. 

_ “She needs your address, turd brain.”  _

“Right.” Eddie said, picking up a pen and clicking it open to write his address. He gave Ellie a nervous grin that was met with a smirk and raised eyebrow. Eddie amused her greatly.

Over the other side of the office at her desk by the window, Penelope was hard at work on a story about an ex-con Enhanced who was making a splash in the boroughs of Harlem. She was so into it that she didn’t notice Peter approaching her desk until he spoke, setting down the SD of his camera. 

“Hey Pitstop.” He said with a nervous smile. 

Penelope stopped her typing mid-sentence to frown at him. “As in Wacky Races?”

“I knew you’d get the reference.” Peter grinned. 

“That’s a new one.” Penelope smiled back at him with a soft laugh.

“You’ve never had Penelope Pitstop before?” Peter sat down opposite her incredulously.

“Not that I remember. I’ve had Pussycat, Inspector Gadget, Pingleton… never Pitstop. Now that I think about it, it’s the obvious choice.” Penelope laughed. “I used to love that show.”

“Oh my god, same.” Peter said enthusiastically. “Can’t beat a bit of Muttley.” 

“Wasn’t there also a racer called Peter?” Penelope frowned as she tried to remember.

“Peter Perfect.” Peter replied with a spark in his eye. 

“Pitstop and Perfect. Solving crime.” Penelope smiled at him and picked up the card. “These of Power Man?”

“As much as I could get. For such a big man he’s pretty hard to pin-down. In-between, you know, dodging bullets.” Peter made a face. 

“Well.” Penelope grinned and put the card in her computer. “Thank you for risking your life for the paper. Ellie will be happy to hear it… especially after we messed up the last job.” Penelope’s eyebrows knitted together in a frown. Ellie hadn’t explicitly said so but she knew they were on thin ice. “These are perfect, Peter.”

“Did you expect any less.” Peter laughed, referring back to their Wacky Races conversation. Penelope chuckled. Peter watched her for a moment, taking in the way her smile lit up her eyes, then decided to bite the bullet. He had spent all of high school and college dragging his knuckles and not going after what he wanted. He didn’t want to drag her into his world… but after reading almost her entire body of work on Enhanced he felt she could handle it. “Will you go on a date with me?”

Penelope looked up from scowling at the photos of Harlem to meet his eye, her own wide and looking like a rabbit in headlights. She talked a good game but the reality was she had been avoiding commitment for so long because of her double-life. She did like Peter though. A lot. They had a natural chemistry. She found herself nodding before she could fully compute his question. He grinned.

“Really?” He sounded as surprised as she felt. 

“Of course.” Penelope smiled back. “Honestly I’ve been wondering whether you’d ever ask.” She giggled.

“Are you kidding? I’ve been putting off asking since I first saw you. Didn’t want to think I had the wrong impression.” Peter was almost blushing. It was endearing and made Penelope laugh softly.

“No, your impression was pretty accurate.” Penelope felt herself blush and with her fair complexion it was quite obvious. She cleared her throat and looked back at the photos. “When?”

“Tonight?” Peter asked with a small shrug as if it was no big deal, but inside he was skipping. 

“Sounds good.” Penelope’s eyes shone as she looked back to him. “Where?”

“Depends. Do you like Greek or Italian?” Peter hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“Surprise me.” Penelope smiled back at him. “I’ll meet you outside my apartment building?” She wrote down the address and held it out to him. He took it as though it was made of gold and grinned at her. 

“8?” 

“I’ll see you then. Thanks for the photos.” Penelope smiled dismissively, making out she had tons of work to do. As soon as he had nodded to her and got to his feet she silently punched the air in excitement. 

With two sets of dates in the same office, everything had to go smoothly… right?

~*~

“When you invited me over because you were cooking I kind of secretly hoped you’d be good at it.” Ellie said from the couch where she was sitting with a glass of wine and Eddie was slowly burning down his apartment. It had been amusing her greatly to watch him try and cover it, but as the acrid smell of burning started filling her nostrils she felt she had to say something. 

“It’s a new stove.” Eddie called. “I’m still getting used to it.” 

_ “Liar.”  _

Ellie sighed and got to her feet, setting down the glass and walking towards him in her bare feet. “Move over.” She said. “I’ll fix it, you see to the salad.” She rolled her eyes at him but she was smiling. 

_ “It was a good attempt.”  _

Eddie sighed and did as he was told in his own kitchen, plating the salad whilst she managed to save the rest of it with spices. He frowned to himself about how whipped he was already. How was she so persuasive just by existing?

“You’re pretty good at that.” Eddie said admiringly as his annoyance ebbed away. 

“When you’ve dated as many guys as I have you pick up some skills.” Ellie shrugged. “It’s why I do it, really.” She realised what she had said and looked nervously at his expression of confusion. “It’s not why I’m dating you.”

“ _ She doesn’t think you have skills.”  _

“Not helpful.” Eddie scowled. Ellie frowned at him, the spoon in her mouth. 

“What did he say?” She asked. 

“That I don’t have skills.” Eddie shrugged as though it was no big deal, avoiding her eyes. 

“Oh, shit, I didn’t mean that.” Ellie’s demeanour faded for the first time and Eddie frowned at her, suddenly seeing her vulnerable. It was a split second but he hadn’t missed it. She covered it again. “You do have skills. I’ve seen them.” 

Her eyes sparkled and Eddie couldn’t help but smile devilishly. He cleared his throat. 

“So how many guys we talking?” Eddie folded his arms, his salad done. “How many is ‘so many’?”

“A few.” Ellie shrugged and turned back to the food. “This is done.” 

Eddie wasn’t finished with the question but she seemed to be, so he dropped it. 

_ “Coward.”  _

“Shut up.” Eddie whispered, smiling at Ellie to show he was happy to move on. “You look cute not in your terrifying office clothes, by the way.” He said a little louder. His words were met with a raised eyebrow. 

“ _ So close.”  _

~*~

Across town, Penelope and Peter were having a great time. He had thrown mediterannean out of the window and instead taken her to the Thai place he and his Aunt May frequented before she moved away to be with Happy. The date was going really well and it was becoming more than slightly obvious that they were really good together. 

“No way could Ant Man beat Captain America in a fist fight.” Penelope shook her head. “Super soldier versus man who’s just a man until he shrinks. It’s a no brainer.” 

“Okay so what about when he shrunk?” Peter asked, his eyes shining. 

“Cap would squish him.” Penelope laughed. 

“True.” Peter nodded. “Oh my god imagine if Captain America put on the Ant Man suit…”

“Oh jeez, I don’t want to be the one to clean up that mess." Penelope giggled, and Peter joined in. Their laughter subsided and they were left smiling at each other. “I’m having a really good time, Peter.” Penelope admitted. 

“You sound surprised.” Peter narrowed his eyes at her. 

Penelope shrugged a little. “I’ve not really let myself get close to anyone in… ever. I’m not really the type of person you get close to.” She spoke into her rice. 

“Are you kidding?” Peter asked. “You’re like… the best.”

“Thanks.” Penelope grinned. “But I’m not.” Her smile faded. “I have baggage.” 

“Don’t we all?” Peter reached out to touch her hand on instinct. For a second she looked at their connected fingers, then Peter suddenly withdrew his hand as though shocked. He stared at his fingers and Penelope stared at him. 

“I’m going to freshen up.” Penelope got to her feet before he asked what had happened. The truth was this always happened, and she didn’t want to alienate him. She headed for the bathroom before he could question, still cradling his singed fingers. He frowned after her as he tried to work her out. 

He was saved from further questioning by the television above the bar switching to BREAKING NEWS. There had been an incident at the docks… 

“Shit.” Peter said, wanting desperately to stay and check Penelope was okay after her sudden disappearance to the ladies, but this kind of thing couldn’t wait. This was why he had been reluctant to ask her out in the first place. The people came first. He got to his feet to pull on his jacket, throwing money on the table and motioned at the waiter to ‘tell Penelope something came up’. He would pay for it later, possibly blow his one real chance at a good thing, but the civilians came first. He headed out the door with a heavy heart and unbuttoned his shirt to reveal the suit beneath. 

In the ladies Penelope was having a serious talk with herself in the mirror. 

“You always do this. You always ruin a god thing because you can’t cope with this part of you.” She cradled her electrifying fingertips. She had been through all the excuses before, but she didn’t want to lie to Peter anymore. “He’ll understand… Peter’s different.” She glared at her reflection. “Just tell him.” She couldn’t. She knew all too well what happened when civilians got mixed up in this world. It was all she ever reported on.

She was saved making a decision on it when her phone buzzed on the side of the sink, a BREAKING NEWS blast down at the docks. She closed her eyes, frustrated. Surely Peter would understand? She would have to tell him the truth after this if she was really about to abandon him on their date. 

She shed her outfit to reveal her Cinnabar suit underneath, climbing up on the toilet and out of the window. She bundled up her clothes and left them behind the dumpster before fastening her mask in place and taking to the air. She hoped Peter would buy her story that she had an upset stomach… 

~*~

“That actually wasn’t so bad.” Ellie said as she set down her empty plate. 

“Yeah, because you made it.” Eddie laughed as he did the same. 

“True.” Ellie shrugged and leaned back against the couch, her cocked elbow inches from his shoulder. He shifted to face her and for a moment they simply exchanged gazes. 

“Something I don’t understand about you...” Eddie said after a long silence. 

“What’s that?” Ellie asked. 

“You play this big hardass boss but deep down,” He took her hand, playing on their full stomachs and the lethargy that came with post-consumption, “I reckon you’re no different to most girls.” 

_ “Where are you going with this, big man?” _

“Oh?” Ellie didn’t pull her hand away from his grip. “Is that so.”

“Yeah,” He met her eye, “It is.” He swallowed and shifted a little closer to her. “I like to think I see the real you. And… if you let me… I’d like it to stay that way.”

“You don’t know the first thing about the real me.” Ellie smirked, but something about her didn’t want to argue with him. “But I’ll see what I can do.” She kissed him. Something about him wanted her to let her guard down. She hadn’t felt like this in a long time with a man. He kissed her back, his hand in her hair and her legs over his lap. 

_ “Smooth.”  _

~*~

By the time Spider-Man got to the docks the disturbance was already being dealt with by the Enhanced who he recognised to be Cinnabar. It looked like a Kingpin sting and she seemed to be handling it judging from the ball of electricity that was keeping the minions from running. 

“You know...” Cinnabar called down to them from the sky as Spider-Man hung on the side of a shipping container to watch. “Just one move and I’ll put you in the water… You know in your dumb criminal peabrains what electricity and water does, right?” There were pleas from the bad guys. “Well then, talk.” Cinnabar replied. “Where’s the boss?” 

Spider-Man watched her handle the minions for a moment, wondering if he should just leave her to it and return to his date… but then he noticed the big black car pull up silently. She hadn’t heard it, nor did she hear the cocking of the big ass gun out of the window. Spider-Man cried out and swung towards it, using his webs to redirect the gun to the sky as it fired. Cinnabar lost her focus and the electricity stopped flowing as she barrel-rolled out of the way, right into the line of fire. Spider-Man shot a web at her ankle to pull her out of harm and she crashed to the ground, out of control. The minions scattered into the darkness and the car drove away as Spider-Man landed beside Cinnabar to help her up. As always he was more concerned with having hurt her than the bad guys escaping. 

“Whoa, are you okay?” Spider-Man asked in a concerned voice.

“Get after them!” Cinnabar shouted at him as she pulled herself up but it was too late, the bad guys were gone. Cinnabar growled as she got to her feet. “Great.” She dusted herself down. 

“Hey, I saved your life.” Spider-Man argued. 

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Cinnabar grumbled. “I had it handled.”

“Yeah, till they nearly shot you in the back.” Spider-Man growled back. “You should try and put that electricity on silent next time.”

“I don’t need lessons from the clumsiest superhero in existence.” Cinnabar stretched out her wings to test they weren’t damaged. “I’d rather deal with Daredevil than you. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to try and finish this.” She took to the sky before Spider-Man could say anymore. 

“You’re welcome!” He shouted after her. He had blown off the only good thing he had going for this. “Nice move Parker.” He kicked the ground moodily. Penelope would never forgive him. He swung himself into the air to head home, defeated. 

~*~

“Alright everyone, welcome to this week's Enhanced Anonymous. Glad to see so many familiar masks amongst you.” Captain America smiled around at the assorted heroes in the circle around him. 

“Hey Cap.” was the chorused response from most of them. 

Cap was used to this kind of response by now after years of running this group, so when he noticed Cinnabar sitting on one side of the circle with her arms folded and her wings dejectedly draped over the back of the chair, her lips sealed, he couldn’t help but zero in. He watched as she anxiously transferred a tiny speck of light from one fingertip to the other and back. 

“Cinnabar?” He said in his gentle voice. “Anything you wish to share?”

Cinnabar looked up through her tinted visor as her companions all turned to her. 

“You know this is a safe space.” Cap pushed. “You can talk about anything here. Masked or unmasked, we don’t judge.”

Cinnabar swallowed hard and watched the light on her fingertips for a moment. “There’s not much to say, Cap, to be honest. It’s been a rough week. My Enhancement cost me a date with a guy I really like. I had to blow off the date to handle this... incident... and now he won’t talk to me.” She shrugged. “It’s getting hard to walk the line, you know?”

There was a mutter of agreement. 

“We’ve all been there, Cinnabar.” Cap said softly. “Does anyone have any advice for Cinnabar?”

Cinnabar sat back to listen to their empty advice but none of it sank in. She knew Peter was avoiding her because she had blown him off, and there was no going back. She hated it because she had really liked him. Being Enhanced sucked sometimes.


End file.
